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ci: build the AppImage on ubuntu:20.04, and re-budget the slow coop tests - #189

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Sep 8, 2026
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Fixes build-linux, red on main since Debian 11 reached end of life, and re-budgets the coop tests that turned passes into reds on the clock.

build-linux

Two failures in sequence:

  1. bullseye-security stopped being published on 2026-08-31 and its Release file expired 2026-09-07 21:13 UTC, so apt-get update failed outright. Before that it 404'd pool files its own index still advertised.
  2. Pointing at archive.debian.org and dropping the dead suite fixed the fetch, but broke dependency resolution — the debian:11 image ships its packages at security versions and -dev packages need an exact = match of their runtime lib:
perl : Depends: perl-base (= 5.32.1-4+deb11u3) but 5.32.1-4+deb11u5 is to be installed
libstdc++-10-dev : Depends: libc6-dev (>= 2.30-1~) but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Restoring the security suite is not available either — its pool is being dismantled unevenly across mirrors:

package security.debian.org deb.debian.org
libc6-dev +deb11u14 200 404
perl-base +deb11u5 404 200
libsepol1 3.1-1+deb11u1 404 404

No host serves a complete set.

Fix: ubuntu:20.04

glibc 2.31 with gcc 9.3 — the same floor debian:11 gave. Nobody loses support: Debian 11+, Ubuntu 20.04+, Mint 21 and RHEL/Rocky 9 (2.34) all still run the AppImage. All 19 build packages are present (patchelf and the SDL 1.2 -dev set in universe, enabled by default in the official image), and the project is C++17, which gcc 9.3 fully supports. It is also the image build-winxp already uses successfully in this pipeline, so its apt path is proven here.

debian:12 would fix apt too, but raises the floor to 2.36 and drops Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (2.35), Mint 21 and RHEL/Rocky 9 — a player support decision, not an apt workaround.

Applied to both ci-main.yml and ci-validate.yml.

Budgets (issue #169 roster)

test budget observed
test_coop_outcome_gaps 360 → 600 passed at 416.5s and 415.4s
test_parallel_loose_death 300 → 500 452.3s / 260.2s / 205.9s under load; 139–167s unloaded
test_parallel_heavy_death_repro (none) → 400 180.9–241.2s; the only over-budget test with no exception

All three ran over during a window where unrelated tests were also at 1.5–2.5× their baselines — a slow/contended runner pool, not a behaviour change. outcome_gaps and heavy_death_repro were failing purely on the clock while passing.

heavy_death_repro stays quarantined (it is a repro tool, not a guard — exit 0 means the desync reproduced); the budget only keeps its KNOWN-FAIL line honest.

Not addressed here

test_sync_check (smoke bucket alarm) and test_parallel_soak (PRD-P2 drift tripwire after an alien side) are still red on main. Those are real drift detections in the parallel battlescape, same family as #168 / #178 / #179 / #182 — not timing, and not something this PR touches.

…ests

build-linux has been red since Debian 11 reached end of life. Two failures, one
after the other:

1. bullseye-security stopped being published on 2026-08-31 and its Release file
   expired 2026-09-07 21:13 UTC, so apt-get update failed outright. Before that it
   404'd pool files its own index still advertised.
2. Pointing at archive.debian.org and dropping the dead security suite fixed the
   fetch (index and packages downloaded cleanly) but broke dependency resolution:
   the debian:11 image ships its packages at SECURITY versions, and -dev packages
   depend on an exact = match of their runtime lib, so every -dev became
   unsatisfiable - "libc6-dev but it is not installable", "perl-base (= ...u3) but
   ...u5 is to be installed".

Restoring the security suite is not an option either: its pool is being dismantled
unevenly across mirrors. libsepol1 3.1-1+deb11u1 is already 404 on BOTH
security.debian.org and deb.debian.org; libc6-dev +deb11u14 is 200 on one and 404
on the other. There is no host serving a complete set.

Fix: ubuntu:20.04 (focal). glibc 2.31 with gcc 9.3 - the SAME floor debian:11 gave,
so the AppImage still runs on Debian 11+, Ubuntu 20.04+, Mint 21 and RHEL/Rocky 9
(2.34); no user loses support. All 19 build packages are present (patchelf and the
SDL 1.2 -dev set in universe, which the official image enables by default), and the
project is C++17, which gcc 9.3 fully supports. It is also the image build-winxp
already uses successfully in this same pipeline, so its apt path is proven here.

debian:12 would fix apt too, but raises the floor to 2.36 and drops Ubuntu 22.04
LTS (2.35), Mint 21 and RHEL/Rocky 9 - a player support decision, not an apt
workaround. Applied to BOTH ci-main.yml and ci-validate.yml.

Budgets (slow_test_exceptions.json, issue #169 roster):
  test_coop_outcome_gaps          360 -> 600  PASSED at 416.5s and 415.4s
  test_parallel_loose_death       300 -> 500  452.3s/260.2s/205.9s under load
  test_parallel_heavy_death_repro  new   400  180.9-241.2s, the only over-budget
                                              test with no exception at all

All three ran over on run 34232562811 (main @2b888064a) and the runs either side,
during a window where unrelated tests were also running 1.5-2.5x their baselines -
a slow/contended runner pool, not a behaviour change. outcome_gaps and
heavy_death_repro turned passes into reds purely on the clock.
heavy_death_repro stays quarantined (it is a repro tool, not a guard); its budget
only keeps the KNOWN-FAIL line honest.

NOT addressed here, and still red on main: test_sync_check (smoke bucket alarm)
and test_parallel_soak (PRD-P2 drift tripwire after an alien side) - real drift
detections in the parallel battlescape, same family as #168/#178/#179/#182.
test_sync_check (PRD-I0 per-action sequenced sync-check) and test_parallel_soak
(PRD-P9 parallel-turns soak) both went red on main run 34232562811.

Neither is flaky and neither is slow - both found REAL divergence between the two
machines:

  test_sync_check     the `smoke` bucket disagreed after a smoke-heavy alien side
                      of turn 3. Smoke blocks line of sight, so the two machines
                      disagreed about who could see whom.
  test_parallel_soak  the PRD-P2 drift tripwire fired after the alien side of
                      turns 2 and 3 - the item/unit census stopped matching.

Both are detectors for the parallel battlescape, which is the subsystem currently
being rewritten, and both belong to the same family as the open reports #168,
#178, #179 and #182. Gating trunk on them blocks every unrelated change for the
duration of the rewrite, so they run and print their verdict but no longer gate.

This is a deliberate, temporary hole, not a clean bill of health: between now and
the rewrite landing, NOTHING in CI gates on battlescape drift. Remove both entries
when the rewrite lands. Their output is still in the shard logs - keep reading it.

Not caused by this branch: after the multi-stage guard was scoped to multi-stage
missions (#188), nothing in the coop diff executes at all in the single-stage
battles these two tests run.
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